BELFAST City Airport has reaffirmed its commitment to inspiring the next generation of West Belfast students through education with the launch of year five of its IGNITE programme.
IGNITE, a joint youth leadership initiative delivered by the airport and film charity Cinemagic, launched in 2019 by Senior Vice President of HBO and Game of Thrones creator Jay Roewe, aims to provide 100 young people with life changing opportunities over a five-year period.
To date, 84 students from secondary schools and higher education colleges across Greater Belfast have now completed the 12-month programme, with a further 23 young people embarking on the IGNITE course this year.
Ten of those students on the 2023/2024 IGNITE programme attend St Dominic’s Grammar School in West Belfast.
Speaking at IGNITE’s year five launch, which will see the airport exceed its original target of 100 students, Head of Marketing Anna McKelvey said: "When we first joined forces with Cinemagic to launch this programme in 2019, we held a clear vision of making a positive and long-lasting impact on the lives of young people across Northern Ireland.
“We take immense pride in having accomplished this goal and in our continued efforts to champion more young people and shape the leaders of tomorrow.
“IGNITE is the only business-to-arts initiative of its kind in the region, enabling young individuals to not only enhance their self-confidence, resilience, mental well-being, and employability but also earn a professional qualification.”
Anna continued: “It has been a privilege to support so many young people so far through this initiative and we are pleased to welcome more students from West Belfast having been impressed with students from the area previously.
“We look forward to seeing what the pupils of St Dominic’s Gramar School will achieve alongside the rest of this year’s cohort.”
